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5 Best Social Media Automation Tools to Boost Productivity and Efficiency

August 1, 2018 | By Ilfusion Team

Social media has become an integral part in every facet of modern-day life, and more so for businesses. In today’s world, social media is one of the best ways for businesses to connect with their customers, increase brand awareness, and reach a wider audience. In fact, statistics show that 49% of marketers consider social media marketing as a key factor in growing their business partnerships.

However, social media can be overwhelming if you don’t have the proper knowledge and tools. In order for your social media marketing efforts to effectively pay off, time and commitment is needed to consistently create compelling content and to provide opportunities for conversation and engagement. For many businesses—especially those who are still starting out and have limited resources—this can be quite a challenge. The good news is, there are several social media automation tools available that can help make social media management easier for businesses.

To help you make the most of your social presence, here are five of the best social media automation tools currently available in the market:

1. Hootsuite and Buffer – Social media scheduling and analytics tools

When it comes to social media scheduling, Hootsuite and Buffer are the first two tools that come into mind. Both tools allow you to auto-schedule content to your social media channels, delegate tasks with other users for better collaboration, and analyze and track the performance of your posts. Buffer and Hootsuite also enable seamless integration with a number of plugins and extensions that you can install on your browser for easier content sharing.

Pricing:

  • Hootsuite – The platform has a free plan where one user can schedule social media content to up to three social media profiles. Their paid plans start at $19 per month, and they also offer custom solutions for businesses who need a more personalized approach.
  • Buffer – The platform also offers a free plan for individual users up to three social media profiles. Their paid plans start at $15 per month for the Starter Plan, and $99 per month for their Business Plans.
2. Social Flow – Data-driven social media publishing

While most social media scheduling tools allow you the liberty of choosing which days and times to publish your posts, Social Flow takes social media automation to the next level with its data-driven publishing feature. They use a smart algorithm that ensures the right content is published at the most optimal time possible. Their smart technology also offers recommendations on relevant keywords, content, audience segments, and even ad spend based on the organic performance of previous campaigns.

Pricing: Social Flow offers customized pricing based on your business’ unique needs. Visit their website here to request a demo and a quote.

3. CoSchedule – All-in-one marketing calendar

CoSchedule is the ideal platform when it comes to marketing collaboration. The platform brings it all together in one place for your business with its drag-and-drop, unified marketing calendar. You can streamline a variety of marketing activities other than social media marketing, such as editorial scheduling, inbound marketing, and social distribution. It also offers social template creation that you can reuse to save time and effort, as well as an intelligent social automation feature reminiscent of Social Flow’s, where social messages are sent automatically at the best times.

Pricing: CoSchedule has a variety of flexible plans designed for individuals, businesses, and agencies. Their individual plans have a free and paid option, the latter which starts at $20 per month. Their business plans range from $60 to $1,200 per month, while their agency plans offer options from $60 to $300 per month.

4. Sprout Social – Social listening and analytics tools

When it comes to managing social media engagement and social listening, Sprout Social wins hands down. With Sprout Social, you can monitor social media mentions, schedule and publish content, and analyze data and create reports to fine-tune your strategy. Their Smart Inbox feature allows you to easily view and manage messages, mentions, likes, and other engagement activities on your social media profiles, all in one place. Sprout Social also offers a robust image editor built right into the app for easier content curation.

Pricing: Sprout Social, admittedly, isn’t the cheapest option in the market, with their plans starting at $99 per month for their Premium Plan, $149 per month for their Corporate Plan, and $249 per month for their Enterprise Plan. They, however, offer a 30-day trial and you can also request a personalized demo.

5. MeetEdgar – Evergreen content re-sharing

MeetEdgar is quite straightforward in their approach. The platform is designed and built for streamlining evergreen content publishing and re-sharing—a simple feature that most social media management platforms lack. With MeetEdgar, your best content are kept in a library, where you can further organize them into categories and assign time slots for them to be automatically re-shared at later dates. It also features an automated auto-refill queue, which ensures you always have content streaming to your social media platforms.

Pricing: MeetEdgar is priced at $49 per month, which includes 25 social media accounts, an unlimited content library, account setup assistance, and integration to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn—and soon, to Instagram and Pinterest.

Choosing the best tools is crucial to the success of your social media marketing strategy. While there is no single perfect social media automation tool, the important thing is to find the tool or set of tools that work best for your business’ unique needs and goals.

If you want to know more, or if you need help with your social media marketing and content creation needs, Ilfusion has access to the best resources in the market. Give us a call at 888-420-5115, or send us an email to [email protected].